If You Plan on Making a Clothing Line, Don't Sell It Cheap.

Watching Cramer on CNBC talk to the CEO of Macy's and some designer named Rachel. She mentioned something about catering to the demographic that can't afford Prada or some expensive brand...I kinda tuned out a second, but it got me thinking about cheap clothes.

As a designer, why would you market your clothes to WalMart or Target? Has anybody remembered the clothing brand of anything they've bought from these places? It just seems self defeating, how do you expect do develop any sort of brand equity among consumers if the only thing you compete on is price? The next thing that comes along that's a dollar cheaper gets you ousted in the mind of the buyer...

If I had a clothing line, I'd use the finest quality materials, jack the prices and do a lower volume. The sales over time would be more predictable because the people who would be buying it would be repeat customers. I say this because if they're willing to pay the high price, they're going to rationalize the purchase to themselves as being worth it, generating repeat business and word of mouth. All this works to pump my brand equity and start the cycle all over again. Yahtzee...

The think a lot of designers have the post-hoc fallacy that selling cheaper clothes to frugal people would be an easier sale than expensive clothes to the affluent. Its not, and I think its just the opposite. If you want proof of this just go into a Bloomingdales and watch the numbers fly. Their clientele will drop a $1000 on one piece of clothing like they're buying bubble gum. Not to mention, if I want to make $1000 profit, what's easier, making one sale at $1000 or a hundred sales at $10?

Methinks we may be rethinking our pricing structures...